• 06/11/26
• East Midlands, Derby
• Market related
• Permanent
• Senior IT Appointments
• Full time

Principal Consultant

Join Xpertise, one of the UK’s most respected and award-winning Technology, Data & Transformation Recruitment businesses where high performers are trusted, rewarded, and given the platform to build something significant, for the next ten years and not just the next two.

If you’re billing well where you are, you don’t need another job. What you might want is a home: a business that shares your standards, backs your judgement and gives you a reason to stay for the next ten years, not the next two.

That’s what we’re building at Xpertise. We’re growing both our permanent and contract tech & transformation desks across the UK, and we want Principal Recruitment Consultants who want their next move to be their last.

Why people who could work anywhere choose Xpertise

• You’re trusted to run your desk. No micro-management and no activity KPIs for the sake of it. You know how to do this job. We give you the platform and get out of the way.
• We are human. Nothing here is transactional. We work relationship first, from the C-suite down, and we win business through the tech community rather than volume cold calling. We host and sponsor hundreds of tech events, and we’d rather lose a fee than mislead a client or a candidate.
• You start with a platform, not a blank page. Our leadership team has met more than 6,500 C-suite contacts. We hold terms with over 350 UK businesses, have placed 700+ contractors in five years, and work with 10 clients on an exclusive or trusted-partner basis, up from 2 last year.
• Clients worth building a career on. FTSE-listed businesses, major transformation programmes and companies in rapid growth. Our relationships with them are deeply embedded, and many feel closer to friendship or family than to a supplier arrangement.
• We’re stable, profitable and growing. We’re on target to smash our net profit target this year, with net fees running 28% ahead of budget. We have significant net assets and we reinvest: profit goes back into our people, our technology and our growth, which is rarer in recruitment than it should be.
• You share in what you build. Our EMI share scheme gives the people who grow Xpertise a real stake in its success. Our planned 2030 “event” will see many of our people receive six figure payouts.
• A true team, where people excel. We invest in our people. Everyone here has a voice, everyone is free to be themselves, and everyone, directors included, is on hand to help. Big personalities are welcome; egos aren’t.
• People stay. The average experience in our business is 10 years+. That doesn’t happen by accident and a major reason why people stay is because we’re Investors in People, Platinum employer.
• Leaders who still do the job. Our directors are hands-on, in the office and in front of Clients, and passionate about this business and the people in it. You’ll have direct access to them and a voice in where we go next.
• The best tools in the market. A state-of-the-art AI native CRM that saves significant admin time, plus your own Claude AI licence and premium LinkedIn licence. Your time goes on the part of the job you enjoy: your clients and candidates.
• Contract: our contractor book is running more than 20% ahead of target, and this year we secured an MSP win and several new SoW/MSA agreements. By January our weekly GP will have tripled since 2025.
• Momentum: 200+ placements and 40 new client wins so far in 2026
• Xpertise Search: our executive search practice is winning exclusive assignments, with a strong pipeline
• International: our US office is up and running and growing fast

Where we’re going

• Contract: our contractor book is running more than 20% ahead of target, and this year we secured an MSP win and several new SoW/MSA agreements. By January our weekly GP will have tripled since 2025.
• Momentum: 200+ placements and 40 new client wins so far in 2026
• Xpertise Search: our executive search practice is winning exclusive assignments, with a strong pipeline
• International: our US office is up and running and growing fast

There is room here to own a market, build a team and grow with the business.

The role

As a Principal Consultant you will be recognised as one of the leading performers within the business.

You'll operate as a highly commercial recruiter, managing strategically important client relationships while continuing to drive substantial personal revenue.

Key responsibilities include:

• Building and managing a high-performing specialist recruitment desk.
• Generating significant contract and/or permanent revenue.
• Developing long-term partnerships with senior decision makers.
• Winning, retaining and expanding key client accounts.
• Acting as a trusted advisor to both clients and candidates.
• Leading major recruitment projects and talent solutions engagements.
• Supporting and mentoring Consultants and Senior Consultants.
• Driving new business opportunities through networking, referrals and market engagement.
• Representing the Xpertise brand within your specialist market.
• Sharing market intelligence and best practice across the business.
• Contributing to strategic growth initiatives alongside leadership teams.
• Being recognised as a subject matter expert within your chosen market.

What you can earn

• Earning potential: Uncapped commission of up to 40%: a £300k biller here earns £100k+

• Commission: up to 40%, with no cap
• Long-term reward: EMI share scheme
• Recognition: quarterly trips to places like Ibiza, Amsterdam, Chamonix, Budapest, Madrid plus the annual super billers trip to places like Rio and Cancun!

• A proven biller at Principal Consultant level or above, permanent, contract or both – annual billings of £300k +
• Strong in new business or account development, and relationship-led in how you win it
• Someone whose clients and candidates come back because of how you treat them
• Clear on your own values, and looking for a business that holds the same ones
• Looking for a long-term home where you can build something lasting, not another two-year stop.
• Experienced in, or ready for, leading and developing others

Industry Recognition

• Platinum Investors in People (top 1% globally) - 2026
• Best Client Service: Won at the Global Recruiter Awards 2026
• Best Recruitment Company to Work For – TIARA Awards Dates
• Best Technology Recruitment Agency – Recruiter Awards 2024

• EMI share scheme
• 25 days’ holiday (rising to 28) + bank holidays + your birthday off
• Holiday purchase scheme
• Hybrid working and an early Friday finish
• Quarterly incentive trips and super billers trip
• Private Healthcare Insurance
• Pension scheme
• Annual wellbeing budget
• Cycle to work scheme
• Regular socials, the Xpertise Olympics and Christmas parties you won’t forget

Let’s talk

You don’t need a CV ready. Start with a confidential conversation about where you are, what you want next and whether Xpertise could be the place you stay forever.

Contact Dawn Harrison: dawn.harrison@xpertise-recruitment.com